The manganese-based antiperovskite compounds have attracted considerable attention because of their interesting and novel physical properties. In this article, we review the recent progress in exploring new-type functional materials with antiperovskite-structure by emphasizing on the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) of the series compounds ACMn3 (A=Al, Ga, Zn, Sn) previously reported by us. Though with simple crystal structures, these compounds display intriguing structural/magnetic transitions. The influences of element substitution at A or Mn site on the MCE and GMR have been systematically studied and the possible mechanisms are also discussed by simultaneously considering the chemical pressure and the band filling effect. Meanwhile, our results indicate that antiperovskite compounds may be promising candidates for the room-temperature magnetic refrigerant materials or GMR materials considering their advantages and that there exist close correlations among various degrees of freedom such as spin, lattice, and charge universally in antiperovskite compounds.